CAD

On October 9th, Fisher Unitech hosted students from Ferndale and Hazel Park public schools during an event called “Make It: Manufacturing” at our Iron Ridge headquarters in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan. This was the second event organized by Pathway X Events that Fisher Unitech has sponsored and it was as rewarding for all involved as the first event called “Build IT.”

Why? Because Pathway X Events is helping kids learn about opportunities in manufacturing and other high demand careers through engaging, hands-on activities. This is a cause that Fisher Unitech can get behind. Plus, what fun to spend another inspiring day with young people to introduce them to 3D printing and 3D design software used in manufacturing.

SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD software offers a tremendous amount of solutions for all aspects of the design process. Jumping into a new CAD software or determining which CAD software is a perfect pick for you or your business can seem like a daunting task. To make the process easier, you can now get a SOLIDWORKS free trial of SOLIDWORKS Premium through MySolidWorks with no waiting or installation required. With this free trial, you can try SOLIDWORKS anytime, anywhere. Here’s how to get started.

When you hear the word “engineer” who do you imagine first? Chances are a woman is not the first person to pop into your head. That’s because the engineering profession is the field where women are underrepresented the most. The education and research movement to include women in the engineering workforce has improved the diversity of the field slightly, but there is still quite a bit of work to be done in order to close this gap. Engineers are making significant advancements in society, but to better all of society, we need a female perspective. More and more women are entering the engineering field, so in this blog let’s learn a little about some of the first female engineers in the world.

The FIRST Robotics program has spent nearly 30 years inspiring young men and women to strive for improvement. Though improvements prove necessary, they are not always easy to achieve because they require hard work, time, and community support. Some FIRST Robotics teams have a rough start due to their location. As the most northern-placed team, the Calumet CopperBots, based out of Calumet, Michigan, are familiar with the hardships of geographical placement, but as their community realized the benefits of FIRST, the ball started rolling for them and today they are flourishing.

For their first six years, from 2008 to 2014, the Calumet CopperBots were unknown to the vast majority of the community. Team meetings were held in the closet of a local machine shop for five years and a garage for another. Regardless of the condition, the Calumet CopperBots strived to complete the mission to build a robot that could drive because they didn’t believe they would be able to build a robot that could complete other goals. As crazy as this idea was, it worked. In 2014, the Calumet CopperBots won a district event, gaining them recognition from the school and the first stepping stone to their success.

Switching to a different CAD software may seem like a daunting task. Not only is it essential to evaluate your company and its personal needs to decide if switching is right for you, but here are three questions that you should ask yourself before switching to SOLIDWORKS: Does switching to SOLIDWORKS make good business sense? Is SOLIDWORKS a software my team can easily learn? How would I go about transferring my legacy data?

In this blog, we will discuss these topics in three sections starting with the business sense of SOLIDWORKS and how the company and its value-added resellers work for you. Second, we’ll discuss the learning curve and ways to minimize it. Finally, we will consider the transfer of data and how new versions of SOLIDWORKS changed the game in Multi-CAD tools. Let’s get started.

In recent years the concept of simulation-driven design has gained significant popularity. Design-embedded simulation tools help companies verify their designs without relying on consultants or expensive, difficult to use packages of yesteryear that were the status quo not too long ago. When parts can be validated early in the design process, the business value is obvious; a few clicks of the mouse and manufacturers are reducing prototyping costs and cycle time to market.

Well, maybe it takes more than a few clicks of the mouse, but the point is that design simulation tools have reshaped how the engineering and product design communities approach product design and consequently, product development. The truth is that most of these tools are still really design driven simulation. Where analysis is done to check an existing design to validate "hunches", "hand calculations" or "tribal knowledge".

SOLIDWORKS 2018 introduced users to a number of enhancements that makes using SOLIDWORKS Simulation faster and easier than ever before. SOLIDWORKS 2018 also includes a new tool called Topology which is a design guide and study type that adds SIMULIA technology to the simplicity of a typical simulation set up. Together, these tools can improve workflow and help overcome otherwise difficult challenges in the design process.

As we’ve seen in previous blogs, SOLIDWORKS 2018 has made several improvements to the entire portfolio - from product data management to realistic visualization and electrical schematics; simulation and design validation is no exception. Keep reading to see how SOLIDWORKS Simulation is a design validation game changer and familiarize yourself with Topology.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “you get what you pay for?” Although the connotation can be limited, it’s important to know when it’s true - especially when it comes to software tools for your business. Companies who want to scale and remain profitable need to know when the benefits outweigh the costs and how to make the right investments for their long-term growth.

We’ve mentioned before that not using a PDM solution at all can result in longer cycle times, lost or inaccessible data, and much higher costs. A study by the Aberdeen Group found that PDM users saw a 15% decrease in development time, and were able to reuse data 10% more than non-PDM users. Even businesses who initially hesitated to adopt PDM due to worries over cost and setup have found PDM to be a cost-effective timesaver for their employees.

In computer aided design, accuracy and speed are key. Engineers and designers are often strapped for time, with a long list of tasks that need to be tackled every day. Optimizing workflow is key, but it can be hard to set aside time to learn the tools you need to get the most out of SOLIDWORKS. To help address this issue, we’ve compiled a list of SOLIDWORKS tips every CAD user should know, with advice on everything from speeding up assemblies to leveraging little-known tools.

I was once treated to lunch by an older engineer whom I greatly admire. He holds many complex patents and co-founded a plastics company that he sold to a large industrial conglomerate. As we talked our discussion turned to injection molding simulation software such as SOLIDWORKS Plastics simulation software.

He believed the software was unnecessary, and that the results rarely provided information that couldn't be gained from a conversation with an experienced mold maker. He thought that in choosing software over an experienced human, the “richness of the dialogue was lost”, a phrase that has stuck with me for many years.

“How many FIRST robotics teams are there in Michigan?” Melissa Wilson asks a group of Ferndale Middle School students who are on a field trip at an event called BUILD IT: Construction! Without missing a beat she says, 520, and draws their attention to a group of kids behind her.

It’s Ferndale High School’s FIRST Team 1025—the Impi Warriors, an exhibitor at the BUILD IT event produced by Ferndale, MI-based Pathway x Events, an organization founded by Melissa Wilson and Sarah Cook.

Trying to work effectively with a slow SOLIDWORKS large assembly that is slow to open, slow to work with, and slow to save is frustrating and can cause unwanted setbacks. In this blog series, we’ve been covering different steps SOLIDWORKS users can take to avoid delays and make working with large assemblies a much smoother process.

As more and more SOLIDWORKS users take advantage of all the automation features in SOLIDWORKS PDM, it becomes clear how important it is to keep other users in the loop. This is especially important for both users who aren’t in the vault all the time and those who are never in the vault but still need to know what’s going on. That is when it is handy to take advantage of the ability to send SOLIDWORKS PDM notifications via the external SMTP method instead of the internal database method.

What this means, is that SOLIDWORKS PDM users who are on the go, on mobile devices, or not even part of the SOLIDWORKS PDM environment can be aware of what is happening in the engineering process related to ongoing and upcoming projects.

A question I often hear from new SOLIDWORKS administrators is “how do I change the PDM Admin password in SOLIDWORKS?” When I hear this question, it’s usually for one of two reasons. Either, the administrator needs to change it to a more secure password, or the administrator has misplaced the password and needs to reset it.

In this blog, I demonstrate step-by-step instructions and tips on how to simply change the PDM Admin password. Let’s get started.

In our SOLIDWORKS 2018 blog series, we're covering new features and enhancements throughout the entire SOLIDWORKS 2018 portfolio. eDrawings 2018 is a great tool that lets users open, view, and save 3D CAD files straight from SOLIDWORKS. The latest edition of eDrawings 2018 introduces many new enhancements to make collaboration with suppliers and manufacturers simpler and more powerful.

In this blog, we’re going to cover some of these new features that include indicators, toolbars, and more. Let’s take a look.

With more than three million users worldwide, SOLIDWORKS products are some of the most widely recognized 3D software tools on the market. Creating designs on everything from supersonic aircraft to exoskeletons, SOLIDWORKS users are leveraging the software to drive innovation in almost every industry — and with it, a growing demand for skilled SOLIDWORKS professionals.

The SOLIDWORKS Certification Exams were developed to address this demand, as well as help employers benchmark SOLIDWORKS competency. Passing a SOLIDWORKS exam has become a useful way to gauge an individual’s SOLIDWORKS knowledge, and some companies have even begun offering SOLIDWORKS training to take the onus of certification preparation off of time-strapped team leads. But is SOLIDWORKS training really worth it?

When SOLIDWORKS World 2018 came to a close back in February, attendees were able to witness one of the most anticipated announcements - a sneak peek of SOLIDWORKS 2019. Every year, SOLIDWORKS offers a sneak peek of new features and enhancements to come in the next release of the 3D CAD software.

Here’s what we know so far about the release of SOLIDWORKS 2019, and potential features and functionalities. New features or changes may happen with time, so be sure to check back!

Jim and Mike Ring have had a passion for building innovative cars since childhood. Even at an early age they were busy building and painting cars anywhere and anytime they could. Now as successful adults, Mike and Jim carry their passion and imagination as co-founders of their company Ringbrothers. Along with being a collision and repair shop, they also deliver a few custom-built cars throughout the year.

Ringbrothers, headquartered in Spring Green, Wisconsin is not only a collision and repair shop, they also produce custom builds and high-quality accessories along with custom fiberglass and carbon pieces. Ringbrothers has soared to the top of American car builders and won numerous design awards including the General Motors award for “Best Chevrolet of Show”, multiple Mothers Shine Awards, magazine covers, and more.

In February of 2018 I was honored to be selected by to present at the annual SOLIDWORKS WORLD 2018 user conference. This year the conference was held in Los Angeles, California. My breakout session was focused on SOLIDWORKS Surfacing and was called “Beginners Surfacing for Beginners” and took place on Tuesday, February 6th at 10:30 AM. It was attended by 181 SOLIDWORKS users.

The goal of this presentation was to help users who have little or no experience with the SOLIDWORKS Surfacing tools get a better understanding of how and when surfaces can and should be utilized. SOLIDWORKS Surfacing tools are a great addition to any SOLIDWORKS user’s toolbox, and I wanted to take this, often avoided area of SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD software, and make it more accessible to newer users.

Over the years I’ve had many opportunities to use SOLIDWORKS for different projects either for work, home, hobbies, teaching, and more. Working in the industry that I’m in you also tend to observe several habits for better or worse regarding design strategies. One habit that seems to be very consistent, is that people don’t seem to like 3D sketching.

Of course, saying people don’t “like” 3D sketching is one of the biggest understatements of all time. It’s kind of like saying that the Ford Pinto wasn’t an “ideal” racecar. No, the truth of the matter is that people seem to fear and loathe 3D sketching, to the point that they’d rather find any other way to get their design done. Let’s change that. In order to help spread the word, I presented this at my SOLIDWORKS World 2018 breakout session, so if you weren’t able to make it to the last event then you’re in luck. Let’s take a look at what you missed.

Another exciting SOLIDWORKS World event has come to a close, where over 5,000 SOLIDWORKS users attended and brought home new knowledge to incorporate into their everyday workflow. If you weren’t able to attend, or you’re new or unfamiliar with SOLIDWORKS Mold Tools, this blog is for you.

SOLIDWORKS World 2018 offered many different breakout sessions on an array of interesting subjects. However, if you weren’t able to make it to the Los Angeles, California event this past February doesn’t mean you should miss out on informative presentations. This blog covers what Fisher Unitech SOLIDWORKS Expert, Rachael Buhl, presented to users on how to simplify your custom property input with the custom properties tab.

Properties are simply details about a file which can be searched, and even referenced by other files. There are Windows-based properties and SOLIDWORKS based properties. Windows-based properties, such as file size, date created, and date last modified can be seen by right-clicking a file in Windows Explorer and clicking Properties. SOLIDWORKS properties, on the other hand, are very customizable. They may include anything you need. Common examples are Description, Part Number, Weight, or Material, just to name a few.

Electrical systems and printed circuit boards are all around us, embedded in an endless number of items. Your cell phone, computer, television, the lamp on your desk, the key fob in your pocket; even the very room you’re sitting in. Increasingly, anything you interact with contains a circuit board, and every circuit board needs a supply of electricity.

The pace at which these technologies develop is rapid, and to meet that demand and deliver the latest and greatest products to market, electrical and mechanical designers and engineers must work in parallel; in a collaborative environment with seamless communication.

Virtual simulation is not only for specialists and final design validation. It’s an intuitive design solution for all product engineers in all industries. Using simulation software, you can set up virtual real-world environments to test your product designs before manufacturing them. If fact, it pays to use simulation software. You will lower your costs and shorten your time-to-market by reducing the number of physical prototypes before going into production.

To teach you more about how to use SOLIDWORKS design validation and virtual simulation software, we invited SOLIDWORKS Simulation expert Joe Galliera from corporate DS SolidWorks to present a webcast called, Design Better Products Faster with Virtual Simulation. Keep reading to learn more about using simulation software.

When the 2017 year ended for my Vi-Borgs FIRST Robotics team based out of my high school in Dundee, Michigan, we took some time to look back,reflect, and learn on what happened to help prepare us for the 2018 FIRST Robotics season. The 2017 Steamworks challenge was my first year taking part in a FIRST robotics season and I enjoyed every minute of it. From beginning to end there were several challenges that our team faced but were able to overcome them using skills learned in the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) fields that are applicable to everyday life.

January 5th was FIRST Power Up 2018 season kick off. Keep reading to learn more about my FIRST Robotics team and new steps we took to prepare for the 2018 FIRST Robotics season.

One of the most highly anticipated events at a SOLIDWORKS World conference is being able to attend break-out sessions that are hosted by Certified SOLIDWORKS users on an array of different subjects. If you weren’t able to make it to this year’s conference then you’re in luck. This blog covers what Fisher Unitech SOLIDWORKS Expert Heather Dawe presented to users to show how SOLIDWORKS Treehouse and templates can be used to create assemblies faster.

SOLIDWORKS Product Data Management (PDM) templates are one of the most commonly used automation processes in a PDM vault. They can be used for everything from creating new project folder sets, to writing ECO’s/ECR’s, to generating new SOLIDWORKS files. Many companies already use PDM Templates to create new project folder sets. These folders can be used to implement project-wide variables and can be populated with pre-designed template files to create a uniform, organized project folders. What a lot of users don’t know is that by using a little-known tool called SOLIDWORKS Treehouse, you can take your assembly to the next level and use you PDM templates to kick-start your project planning and create your assemblies quicker.

With a new year comes a new FIRST Robotics season for the ThunderChickens. High school students in FIRST Robotics teams across the globe anxiously wait for this time of year. On January 6th, “For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology” (FIRST) released this year's FIRST ROBOTICS COMPETITION (FRC) challenge.

FIRST Robotics is an organization that has been around since its founding by Dean Kamen and Woodie Flowers in 1989. Their goal is to inspire young students to participate in Science and Engineering as if it were a sport. With traditional high school sports receiving so much attention, Dean and Woodie set out to create a sport for the mind that all of its participants could “go pro” in some day.

Are you an engineer who is spending too much of your time modifying existing designs instead of creating new ones? Are you a technical lead who wishes that there was a way to substantially automate your supply chain with the press of a button? Are you a company executive who wants the competitive edge of allowing your customers to configure your products online? If you answered yes to any of these questions then DriveWorks is for you. DriveWorks design automation software allows you to configure, price and quote models, documents and data from web to the production floor.

Do you often find that your SOLIDWORKS large assemblies are sluggish? Do you experience slow open time, lag, and a slow save time? If you do, you’re not alone, but there are several variables you may not have considered that could be causing this lackluster performance. In this blog series I’ve been covering each of those variables to help you get your SOLIDWORKS large assemblies opened, working, and saving faster.

In my first blog, I showed several examples of a large assembly that was slow to open, slow to save, and slow to work with. We were able to remedy that by opening the assembly locally, we turned off shadows and shapes, real view, and changed the display to shaded. In part 2, I talked about network bottlenecks and the differences in hard drives and how those can affect how your large assembly performs. Part 3 introduced the “Automatically Load Components Lightweight” option in SOLIDWORKS and how to reduce the amount of data being opened. Continuing with that trend, today we’re going to talk about a couple of best practices for working with assemblies in general but especially with large assemblies.

In today’s global marketplace, great products need to get built faster than ever. That’s why SOLIDWORKS 2018 offers the toolset and power source you need to help deliver assembly designs in record time and with less effort. One effective capability is that now when creating a linear pattern of components, SOLIDWORKS 2018 now gives users the ability to add an optional rotation. After choosing the number of instances, you can simply select a rotation reference and specify the incremental angle. This speeds up the process of all kinds of innovative designs and removes the need for additional features.

This blog covers more helpful features regarding surfaces, faces, and magnetic mating. Keep reading to learn more about these enhancements and how you can start implementing them into your everyday workflow straight away.

The Day 3 General Session of SOLIDWORKS World 2018 was held on Wednesday, February 7th and showcased the ways SOLIDWORKS customers have used SOLIDWORKS to create innovative solutions and products and how they plan to continue innovating moving forward. From Hollywood art directors to a Formula 1 driver, SOLIDWORKS customers across a variety of industries stepped up to share their stories, along with valuable insights from members of the SOLIDWORKS team. Keep reading to find out what we learned.

The Day 2 General Session of SOLIDWORKS World 2018 on February 6th at the Los Angeles Convention Center showcased engineers, inventors and entrepreneurs explaining how they used SOLIDWORKS to turn their visions into reality. For example, Boom Technologies is developing a supersonic jetliner that can fly from New York to London in three and a half hours, half the time it takes to get there today. SG Robotics uses SOLIDWORKS to design exoskeletons that enable people with a wide range of disabilities to walk without assistance. Two Bit Circus is designing a fleet of next generation micro-amusement parks that will include the latest in multi-person virtual reality and mixed reality games, social play experiences, group games and liberal use of lasers, fire and robots.

SOLIDWORKS World 2018 got off to an exhilarating start today in its first general session on February 5th 2018 in Los Angeles, California with the top executives of the company laying out their vision for the future, a high-powered customer story and a keynote speech by MIT Professor Neri Oxman. Keep reading to learn more about what was covered.

A decrease in productivity can create a landslide of side effects amongst your engineering and design teams, and ultimately impact time to market. That’s why SOLIDWORKS 2018 made improvements and offered new features to keep your design process flowing smoothly.

In our What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2018 blog series we’ve been taking a look at new features and enhancements across the entire SOLIDWORKS 2018 portfolio. In this blog, we’ll be looking at improvements in productivity within SOLIDWORKS Mesh and Sketch capabilities, and a new assembly tool called Tab and Slot. Let’s take a look.

Pop quiz: What level user should a person be to consider SOLIDWORKS training? New user? Experienced user? Expert? The answer is all of the above. It doesn’t matter what level of experience you have using SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD software; training is always a good option. Not only does SOLIDWORKS training help keep your skill set fresh, but gaining certifications can place you above the bar amongst your peers and help you gain recognition within your organization.

At Fisher Unitech we offer SOLIDWORKS training three ways: Online (offered throughout the entire United States), onsite, and in-classroom. We offer over 40 different SOLIDWORKS online classes and 12 SOLIDWORKS certification tests to meet your needs. Most importantly, all of our classes are taught by a live instructor. One of those instructors is Tom Starks. Keep reading to learn more about Tom and his role in the SOLIDWORKS education experience.

SOLIDWORKS World 2018 is heading to Los Angeles, California where over 5,000 SOLIDWORKS users can join their peers to share, explore, and learn about the latest in 3D design. The theme for SOLIDWORKS World 2018 is THINK FUTURE, THINK INNOVATION, and THINK NEXT IS NOW which will be discussed in further detail over the course of the three-day event.

CEO of Dassault Systemes, Gian Paolo Bassi will kick off the first general session at 8:30 PST on Monday, February 5th and guests will hear from a collection of motivational speakers and SOLIDWORKS experts delivering news and advancements that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Can’t make it to Los Angeles? All three general sessions at SOLIDWORKS World 2018 will stream live coverage, which can be viewed on your computer no matter where you are. You can sign up for the live stream below.

There is a lot of buzz in the 3D CAD market right now about companies looking at switching from Autodesk Inventor to SOLIDWORKS. Many are focusing on the capabilities and features of the software such as its intuitive and easy-to-use user interface and its ability to scale from small parts to very large assemblies and to perform powerful simulations without leaving the SOLIDWORKS user interface.

But there are a wide range of other reasons to consider switching from Autodesk Inventor to SOLIDWORKS that have nothing to do with software features, such as licensing options, price stability, technical support options, user community and availability of skilled users. Fisher Unitech has created an infographic that summarizes these advantages and this blog post will provide some additional explanation for each of the points mentioned in the infographic.

Today we’re going to talk about what we can do to reduce the amount of data being opened by using the automatically load components lightweight option. In my first blog we talked about SOLIDWORKS large assemblies that are slow to open, slow to work with, and slow to save, and in my previous blog I had a specific focus on how the assembly was slow to open taking approximately seven minutes and thirty seconds to open.

What happens when opening an assembly in SOLIDWORKS is that information is moved from your fixed disc into RAM and the things that can affect how long it takes to open an assembly during this process are the data transfer speeds, how quickly the data can move from fixed disc into RAM, and the amount of data being opened. The first step we can take, I think, is pretty straight forward and that is we can examine our directory for unusually large part files. Each part file is going to be opened from fixed disc into RAM when you open an assembly. Therefore, if you have any unusually large part file size that’s 5 MB or more, you really want to open that part file and do what you can to reduce the overall file size, which is going to reduce the amount of data being loaded into RAM and make your assembly open more quickly.

SOLIDWORKS 2018 continues to impress new and experienced users alike with its outstanding user interface and toolbox filled with everything you need to make your 3D CAD design a success. In our What’s New in SOLIDWORKS 2018 blog series, we’ve been covering all the latest features and enhancements. In this blog, you’ll learn more about new features for SOLIDWORKS Inspection 2018 including 3D file support to help streamline your quality control process. Let’s take a look.

Welcome to part two of my “Large Assemblies and How to Make Them Faster in SOLIDWORKS” blog series. In this blog, I’ll be discussing different actions you can take to make your assemblies easier and faster to work with.

Just a quick disclaimer: There are a lot of variables when it comes to working with large assemblies in SOLIDWORKS and when it comes to slow computer performance in general, so you want to make sure you realize that there may be instances outside the scope of these examples that you can do to also speed up your computer. Try rebooting regularly to make sure your RAM cache is clear or maybe learning about the topic of Windows and GDI. These are a few things that are a little more nuance that can definitely help you with large assemblies in SOLIDWORKS, but during this series I’m going to be giving specific examples I have found that help almost every user when it comes to large assembly performance. Let’s get started.

If you’ve ever tried importing third-party 3D CAD data into your native 3D CAD software, you’ve probably most commonly associated this process with one word: pain. Your 3D CAD platform of choice has many disparate features that come together to present you with the interfaces you associate with terms like “Creo files,” “Inventor files,” and so on. This includes the modeling kernel in use, the information set, and versioning concerns.

About four years ago, I presented at a SOLIDWORKS User Group on a topic I titled, “Imported Geometry: The Dirty Laundry of CAD.” Back then, third-party CAD data was exactly that. No one wanted to deal with it. It made the process of switching to a new 3D CAD system a painful process. Until now. I presented a webcast on how easy it is today to “Convert Autodesk Inventor CAD Data to SOLIDWORKS.” In this blog, I cover why but be sure to view my recoreded webcast to see how easy it is to use native Inventor files right in SOLIDWORKS today.

SOLIDWORKS World 2018 will be held from Sunday, February 4th to Wednesday, February 7th in Los Angeles, California. SOLIDWORKS World is an annual conference where SOLIDWORKS users and resellers gather to network and learn more about specific topics and solutions in SOLIDWORKS, spanning everything from 3D CAD software and communications to data management.

SOLIDWORKS World is a great opportunity for people associated with or using SOLIDWORKS software to strengthen their skills and understanding of the software from experts in the field. In addition to over 200 breakout sessions, the conference also offers multiple networking opportunities for attendees, putting them in contact with SOLIDWORKS partners, entrepreneurs, solution providers and more.

There are some very good reasons to consider switching to a new 3D CAD system in 2018. For example, if you switch from Autodesk Inventor to SOLIDWORKS you will be able to tap into a much larger user community that will make it easier to find skilled users. You will increase your range of licensing options, such as being able to choose either a perpetual lease or subscription. You can take advantage of a much larger ecosystem of product development solutions to increase user productivity. You will have the option of phone, email or web tech support instead of being channeled into using email support.

The term large assembly is a bit subjective. I often ask my customers a handful of questions, such as does your assembly take a long time to open, save, or rebuild? Does your assembly take a long time to make a drawing or work with drawings, does it hang your computer when you rotate, insert components, edit parts, or when adding mates? If they’ve answered yes to some or all of these questions, then you’re probably working with large assemblies.

In this blog series, I’m going to talk about large assemblies and how to make them faster. For more SOLIDWORKS tips and tricks, join my free monthly webinar. Let’s get started.

One of the most highly anticipated features of SOLIDWORKS 2018 was the introduction of SOLIDWORKS CAM. SOLIDWORKS CAM software delivers fully integrated knowledge based CNC programming to help eliminate repetitive manual tasks, reduce errors, and avoid unexpected costs to help complete your product faster.

Did you know SOLIDWORKS CAM is available in all versions of SOLIDWORKS Desktop? This recorded webcast explores this new toolset and demonstrates how to take your part from CAD to CAM in the same program. This blog gives an overview of SOLIDWORKS CAM to get you familiar and explains the powerful new features of tolerance based machining.

The user experience while using 3D CAD software can determine many factors including how your day starts off. Are you stressed that you often can’t find what you’re looking for? Do you have too many tabs and folders cluttering up your screen? These stresses can cause a waterfall of problems resulting in delays in your design and project completion date. Who wants that?

SOLIDWORKS 2018 introduces many enhancements to their interface that improve your day-to-day productivity and help you get your design task completed ahead of schedule. This blog will demonstrate some of these new features.

“How do I do..?”, “What’s the difference between..?”, “Where do I find..?” These are all common phrases SOLIDWORKS and 3D Printing users start with when seeking answers to their questions. Often times, there is a question that is asked time and time again. In 2017, here at Fisher Unitech, we answered lots of questions and closed over 22,000 customer support cases. Some of the most popular questions we published on our blog. Here are the top ten SOLIDWORKS tech tips our readers searched for in 2017. Did you?

As we continue our blog series covering what’s new in SOLIDWORKS 2018, we’re excited about drawing enhancements and expect you will be too. SOLIDWORKS 2018 drawings features allow you to quickly create part and assembly drawings from 3D designs.

In this blog we cover drawing enhancements new in SOLIDWORKS 2018 including: the ability to insert 3D model views, automatic Advanced Hole callouts, layer support for cross hatching, new trailing zero display options, broken out section view support for Section View and Alternate Position View, and an all uppercase switch capability for text in tables.

SOLIDWORKS Visualize - introduced to the SOLIDWORKS product suite in 2016, gives us another excellent choice when we have a need to generate photo-realistic images. All seats of SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional include a license for SOLIDWORKS Visualize Boost.

In this blog, I’ll cover what SOLIDWORKS Visualize Boost is, how it can boost your productivity, and an in-depth look on how it works.

One of the best features of SOLIDWORKS PDM (Product Data Management) is its integration with Windows Explorer and how it allows users to access the SOLIDWORKS PDM vault directly from Windows Explorer. In this tech tip, I’m going to discuss three different ways users and administrators can set up an automatic login with SOLIDWORKS PDM, which allows users to access the vault and get working faster. Let’s get started.